Not just any Friday-Finish It Friday

Courtney over at Sister to Sister started Finish It Friday a couple of weeks ago with this cute, cute little banner.

She asks
Do you have any projects you have begun that you need to finish?

Did you start something this week that you were not able to complete?

Did you finish all the work around the house you wanted to do this week?

Do you have several "loose ends" to tie up with the week's posts on your blog?

Well..........I pretty much have to say yes to all of them :) Although I should have started earlier, this is the first week I've participated. My project for this week (and remember-my kids are on winter vacation!) is to finish sewing together my squares for the YCMT Making It Up As I Go Quilt. I've got them all cut out and some sewn together but I'm hoping to find some time today to get the rest done so I can move on to the next step. I'm anxious to see how they all look together.

Here's what I have so far.......

I guess I should add sew my squares together and cut all the threads!!

It's been a crazy week here and I'm glad it's Friday. We've been gone the last three days and everyone is off schedule. Tuesday we were at my mother in law's, Wednesday I was at the dr/hospital all day with my 8 year old who had pains on her left side and yesterday I had jury duty. Talk about boring-we just sat there all day-I kept thinking no kids, I could be sewing :) I couldn't believe how exhausted I was when I got home-way more tired than being with the kids all day.

Have a great weekend!!

Menu Plan Monday Week 2

Oh, I love Menu Planning-it helped out so much last week.

Here's my plan for Week 2 of trying to be a bit more organized and trying some new recipes.

Monday Baked Teriyacki Chicken, Baked Potatoes, Green Beans

Tuesday We'll be at my parents' (girls are on vacation this week) so I'm not sure what we'll be having but I don't care because I don't have to cook!

Wednesday Inside Out Pizza The girls have been talking about making pizza so I thought this would be a good week to try this out-2 new recipes in one week-could be a record!

Thursday Leftovers-I have Jury Duty-Keep your fingers crossed I don't get called for anything, I only have a babysitter for one day.

Friday Beef Tacos, Salad

Check out orgjunkie.com for more meal ideas and meal planning tips.

Waahoo....I've completed step 1

I finally got my squares cut out for the YCMT Make It Up As You Go Along Quilt. Took me long enough!! Tonight I hope to start sewing them together. I'll try to get a picture up soon.

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day. Ours was busy with selling Girl Scout cookies and basketball. My husband and I had a "date" last night for pizza and a movie in the TV/Wii room-yummy-after the kids went to bed. Hope you enjoyed your day!

My girls have got the bug.....

One stomach bug-yuck!! My poor 5 year old -in the middle of the night- left us a nice present in our bed. She's feeling a bit better now-she's up and about. Here's hoping it doesn't go through the rest of the house-mom says as she knocks on wood and crosses all her fingers and toes. I hate when the kids are sick plus I don't have time for any extra laundry!


The other bug in our house is the blogging bug and it's bitten my 8 year old. I did the craft for her Brownie group the other night-fun time and she was so happy. We made candle holders out of baby food jars (very devious of me to use up all my baby food jars) with tissue paper and glue. Easy peasey and the girls were so busy and quiet. We made gift bags to put them it too. The leader found the cutest Brownie patches for Valentine's Day too so they each got one for their vests. My daughter arranged her candle holder on a paper towel yesterday and instructed me to take a picture to put on the computer so here it is........ as instructed :)




Have a great day!

Menu Plan Monday

I've been planning my meals for a few weeks now-ever since I first learned about it on Courtney's blog-but haven't gotten around to posting my meal plan on the right day! One step at a time......

I'm so glad I've started planning though. It's helped me out so much-I wish I had thought of it sooner. There were so many days that I was wondering around 4:00 what to have for dinner and then scrambling around to get it ready. Not the best time of the day when the kids are trying to do homework and tired and cranky (well, make that mom's tired and cranky!) Now I can just check my meal plan each morning and know exactly what I'm doing. It's been so helpful and makes me feel much more relaxed. At first, it just sounded like one more thing to do on Sunday, but it's not-it doesn't take long to check and see what I have in the freezer and decide what we're having-I even have started consulting with the kids and they are a big help plus they love to do it. I'd never do that if I was just trying to get it ready late in the afternoon.

Here's my plan for the week

Monday Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans- dh will be home early to man the grill-yeah!!

Tuesday Spaghetti and meatballs-crazy night for us with lots going on, this I can get ready in the afternoon and it's all set for whenever anyone has to eat

Wednesday Cheesy Potato Soup (recipe here) I think I'm going to try to put broccoli in it this time, my girls requested it, garlic bread

Thursday Chicken fajitas, salad

Friday My daughter's play is tonight and it's dinner theater so we're eating out :) leftover spaghetti and meatballs for the 3 little ones and my dad who very nicely volunteered to babysit

Next week I hope to try at least one new recipe, I've seen some yummy ones searching around. The potato soup is a new recipe for us, I've made it a few times and it's so yummy.

Check out orgjunkie.com for more meal ideas and meal planning tips.

It's a Jungle in here.....

This new little cutie is a new pattern by Courtney of Sister to Sister

It's in the set with the monkey I showed a couple of weeks ago. There's a giraffe in the set that is just as cute. The three patterns are available at YCMT. Courtney has another ebook availabe too that features a lady bug and a doggie-both cute for Valentine's Day. She's working on more animal patterns so stay tuned-I know my daughter requested a polar bear :)

This elephant pattern was just as easy to follow and sew as the monkey. The instructions were very clear. It's another great idea for a baby gift-although I've made this one for my 10 year old neice who loves elephants-she'll get a big kick out of it. I finally remembered to take a picture of it-I'll be giving it to her this weekend. Can't wait!

Have a great weekend!

Peeking out.......

from my laundry pile....

as it snows out again.....

to share some really cute snowflakes-

my favorite kind!

This was a great project for a snow day and the girls had fun. I got the idea on Make and Takes. I didn't have any watercolors though, so we used washable markers. We colored on the coffee filters and then sprayed them with a water bottle. The girls love doing that. When you spray the coffee filters, the marker colors all run together and it looks like tie dye. We let them dry and then hung them up. The pictures don't show the true colors-they're nice and bright.

Everyone wanted to help with this project!

P.S. I realized the other day that the link for the Friday Freebie was wrong-it's fixed now!